Shrimp & Grits

Reposting this method because, well, just the name of the dish is inspiring: butter-poached shrimp. Butter-poached shrimp and grits. Mmmm.

Butter-poached lobster, not uncommon in French haute cuisine, was popularized in America by Thomas Keller in The French Laundry Cookbook and at that restaurant. “Lobster loves gentle heat,” he told me then. It’s not much of a leap for the thrifty-minded cook to reason that shrimp, too, love gentle heat. That’s why, in the butter chapter of my book Ruhlman’s Twenty, I showed how to use butter as a cooking medium (one of the many amazing ways butter can be used as a tool). This dish is absolutely killer. The shrimp stay very tender, rich and tasty with the butter; the grits are then enriched with the shrimp butter. Leftover butter can be used to saute shrimp and garlic for a shrimp stir-fry, use it to scramble eggs and serve with cured salmon, or enrich a shellfish sauce (save your shrimp shells).

Scroll down for process shots. One of the best parts of the book is the photography. Our goal was to show how food is supposed to look like, can look like, in your kitchen, rather present than heavily worked over studio food photography. We couldn’t do if we tried—or we could but it’s just not what we do. I like to look at food porn, but not make it. We’re after information, visual information in this case. But looking at that lead photo, well, it’s looking pretty damn good. I think I know what I’m having for breakfast tomorrow.

How to butter poach shrimp from Ruhlman’s Twenty, photography by Donna Turner Ruhlman:

Making beurre monté: start butter in a tablespoon of water over medim heat.

Add a few chunks at a time, swirling continuously until it’s all melted.

Finished beurre monté at perfect poaching temperature 160-180˚ F.

Add shrimp and stir to gently cook them.

Cut one open to make sure they’re coked through.

Add shrimpy butter to finish the grits and serve with a squeeze of lemon and fresh black pepper.

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Mark

Allen

Cheers, to the Splendid Table podcast & Lynn. I thank her for making my commute more tolerable. Love it when Mr Ruhlman is on.
I have a hard time buying shrimp, it’s all farm raised now for some reason.
The cost of wild lobster, or Argentina langostino is usually cheaper.
Poor mans lobster sandwich is butter poached langostino with a little fennel salt, lemon mayo.
I’m drooling thinking about it.